Benghazi truths matter

Boston Herald editorial staffThursday, May 09, 2013

For the White House the terror attack on our Benghazi consulate eight months ago was “a long time ago.”

And who can forget former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s table-pounding tirade about “what difference does it make” whether the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, was a protest or a premeditated terror attack.

Well, the truth always makes a difference. And yesterday’s effort by the House Oversight Committee to get at the truth brought us closer to the unassailable fact that the Obama administration has lied at every juncture — first to protect the president seven weeks before election day and later to provide cover for the future political ambitions of Hillary Clinton. And all of it is entirely shameful.

“There was no report from the U.S. mission in Libya of a demonstration,” said Gregory Hicks, who was deputy chief of mission in Libya at the time of the attack. It was the first time Hicks has testified in public about the attack and its aftermath. Hicks’ answer came in response to a bizarre line of questioning from Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem) that somehow there was a legitimate case to be made for those utterly false “talking points” handed to U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice before her five talk show appearances on Sept. 15.

Tierney once again has proven himself an embarrassment.

But the broader point is that, according to Hicks’ testimony yesterday, Rice’s lies had consequences on the ground in Libya. At the time Hicks, a 22-year career diplomat who by then was in charge of the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, was trying to get the FBI to quickly investigate. But after Rice’s appearances “we encountered resistance” from Libyan officials to their landing, he said. It eventually took the FBI 18 days to get on the ground and secure the crime scene.

Only last week did the FBI release photos of those they believe responsible for the murders at Benghazi and no one has been charged in the case.

Yes, actions have consequences. Lies (and there have been lots of them) have consequences.

But it was Eric Nordstrom, a former regional security officer in Libya, whose forces were cut prior to the attack who answered Clinton’s lingering question.

“What happened prior to, during and after the attack matters,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “It matters to me personally and to my colleagues at State. It matters to the American people and it matters to the friends and the families” of those four murdered Americans.